observermedia

In this great nation in which we live the three most precious gifts we’ve been given are the right to speak our minds, the right to worship as we please, and the ability to chose our own leadership. Without that last gift, the other two might not be possible.
    The right to vote our conscience, to engage in a democratic process, is the blood that pumps through the veins of America. It is the foundation on which all other things have been built.
    It is a right that so many take for granted. Millions of American men and women have died to protect our most precious freedom. But even in the decision to select a president, less than half of eligible voters make it to the polling both. Encouraging people to exercise their right to vote is a noble pursuit, provided that the objective is to promote democracy and not just to increase the chances of electing a specific candidate or a slate of them. Then it becomes manipulation of the most cynical kind.
    Over the next two months a group calling itself VoteApril6 will do everything within its power to increase voter registration. Normally that should be applauded. But this group is not interested in democracy for the sake of democracy. It only wants to improve the chances of its own slate of candidates.
    Once these people were known as the “Citizens for a Better Wareham,” an organization that catered to the special interest groups in town. Then, after they were exposed for the political partisans they were, they changed their name to Take Back Wareham. Now, in an effort to distance themselves from the shameless political tactics they performed under that name, they are calling themselves VoteApril6.
    Members of VoteApril6 refuse to publicly identify themselves. The reason why is clear. They want to fool people into thinking they are part of a grassroots campaign to encourage people to vote. If their true motive was revealed they would be discredited as they have been under previous incarnations. They are not the incumbents in the upcoming election. These are people supporting the challengers.
    They have paid at least $1,500 in advance to run advertisements in the new Wareham Week newspaper until the April 6 town election. There is no contact information on their ad save for an e-mail address. There is no phone number, no address, no website listed. And that’s because they are collecting e-mail addresses that they will undoubtedly use to push their slate of candidates in the days leading up to the election.
    VoteApril6 is not a registered political action committee. That’s why they are being so subtle and vague about their intention. The Observer had the son of a friend e-mail them to get more information last week. VoteApril6 is suggesting that potential voters read Wareham Week for their political education. VoteApril6 has already ordered buttons, decals and lawn signs. They plan to get their message into the school system. They even called Facebook and made us change the name of our Facebook page because in it became wildly popular among high school students in a matter of days. They simply don't want young people in this town to know the truth. They only want to be able to manipulate young voters into voting for their candidates.
   I am curious about something. Why would VoteApril6 suggest that people read Wareham Week to learn about the election? How would VoteApril6 know anything about the potential election coverage of a newspaper that has just been conveniently created?
    There are a few things Wareham should know about this new newspaper. The publisher – Anne Eisenmenger – is a Wareham resident who attended a secret meeting in the summer of 2008 intended to launch a recall of the Board of Selectmen. Advertisers for this newspaper include the family of former selectman/library director Mary Jane Pillsbury, Citizens for a Better Wareham board member Bob Brady, and attorney Margaret Ishihara. They all attended the same recall meeting with Eisenmenger. Brady, who hosted the infamous anti-selectmen “community meeting” last summer at the Middle School in which all pro-selectmen voices were silenced, has gone from business to business in Wareham trying to sell advertising for the new paper.
    The goal of the Citizens for a Better Wareham/Take Back Wareham/VoteApril 6 is to increase voter participation as much as possible by any means necessary and then to try to completely control the media so only their message gets out. That’s why they’ve tried so hard to put the Observer out of business. They cannot control the flow of information as long as the Observer is still around. So they have spent the better part of the past year pressuring our distributors and advertisers into severing ties with us. They speak of the importance of voting while they callously disregard the value of freedom of speech.
    They have engaged in an absolute smear campaign on a local hate web site against anyone they perceive to be a threat to their political ambitions. And it’s only going to get worse.
   But publicly they will put on a different face. VoteApril6 and Wareham Week will not pull out the heavy artillery until the last minute. They will try to lull people into complacency with a soft, positive message. Then as the election nears they will unleash a smear campaign against their political opponents the likes of which Wareham has never seen before.
    On the Take Back Wareham Facebook page Saturday, the moderator made the following post: “Candidate update: as of yesterday 1/28/10 we have 3 potential candidates for 2 seats on the BOS (Frank DeFelice, Steve Holmes & Cara Winslow), we have 1 potential candidate for Housing Authority Don Hall, and Melodye Conway for Town Clerk. Media reports indicate that the incumbent Clerk Mrs. Silva is also in the race”
    Note how the post didn’t say “there are three potential candidates for two seats on the BOS.” No, the moderator said “we have” three candidates. Silva was just an afterthought. That should eliminate any doubt that Take Back Wareham is nothing more than a political action committee in disguise.
    Steve Holmes, under the name Searay240 (he has publicly admitted it’s him), has made 306 posts on a local hate website that allows Nazi imagery and extreme profanity, one that bans people for having a different point of view from its own. Cara Winslow has made 136 posts to that same site under her own name. It’s unclear if DeFelice has posted there as anonymous names are allowed.
    Holmes was one of the chief organizers of the boycott against the Observer. He has publicly acknowledged that. During Brady’s community meeting he stood on the stage and loudly accused the Observer of actively working with the Board of Selectmen. Despite repeated requests, he has never offered a shred of evidence to support such an irresponsible and completely false claim. And now suddenly he wants to run for election.